Korean LoL talent drain to China continues

When South Korea’s Damwon Gaming lifted the Summoner’s Cup in Shanghai in October, fans of League of Legends Champions Korea were filled with joy. For two years, LCK teams had failed to reach the finals, instead looking on as Chinese teams from the LoL Pro League won. As Damwon fulfilled the long-held wish of LCK fans for a win, fans also feared another exodus of Korean players to the LPL. After LCK team Samsung White won the World Championships in 2014, all the starting members of

Jan. 13, 2021

New franchise system heralds changes at LCK

Longtime fans following League of Legends Champions Korea, the 2021 LCK spring season will have many changes with the implementation of the franchise system. For those new to the LCK, it presents a good opportunity to get into LoL esports. With the opening match of the season between Gen.G Esports and KT Rolster set for Wednesday, here’s what you need to know. Ten teams have qualified for the LCK franchise system: Afreeca Freecs, DWG Kia, DRX, Fredit Brion, Gen.G, Hanwha Life Esports, KT

Jan. 12, 2021

Esports one step closer to gaining sports status

When the foundation for esports in Korea was established in the early 2000 with the launch of a StarCraft league, esports remained far from being considered among “real sports.” Pro gamer as an occupation was a new concept, and player wages were not sufficient to make ends meet. In fact, pro gaming was not considered an actual career in the beginning, as players had to pay additional taxes because their earnings were considered unearned income. Perceptions about esports have changed

Jan. 5, 2021

Damwon Gaming dominates KeSPA Cup

League of Legends world champion Damwon Gaming continued its dominance, rolling over the other LoL Champions Korea teams in the Korea e-Sports Associations Cup held over the Christmas weekend. Damwon headed straight to the finals after sweeping the group stages 4-0 and dropping only one game to Hanwha Life Esports with Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon and Kim “Deft” Hyuk-gyu in the semifinals on Saturday to go 3-1. The KeSPA Cup is an annual tournament hosted by KeSPA in the off

Dec. 27, 2020

Fan vote determines LCK All-Stars players’ champions for All-Stars

The three in-game characters that League of Legends Champion Korea players will use to play against a Chinese team in the 2020 All-Stars on Saturday was revealed by Riot Games on Wednesday. The characters, known as champions, were selected through an online vote by over 16,200 fans that took place from Dec. 12-14. The 2020 LoL All-Stars is an annual LoL event where professional players, popular streamers and retired pros come together to play in a series of exhibition matches. The five partici

Dec. 17, 2020

Veteran LCK players retire in the offseason

While the League of Legends Champions Korea offseason is a time of many roster changes and player transfers, it is also when many veteran players decide to retire from professional play. Two members of former team ROX Tigers, Lee “Kuro” Seo-haeng and Kang “GorillA” Beom-hyun, announced their retirement this week, while former world champion Lee “Crown” Min-ho announced he was ending his professional career earlier this month. Kuro and GorillA both reached t

Dec. 13, 2020

2020 LoL World Championships viewings reach more than 1 billion hours

More fans than ever went online to watch the LoL World Championships this year, according to Riot Games, with over 1 billion hours watched worldwide during the games that took place from Sept. 25 to Oct. 31 in Shanghai. The Play-in Stage, where the representative team from weaker regions such as Oceania, Latin America, Brazil, Japan, Turkey along with fourth seed teams of China and Europe and third seed team of North America among others competed for a spot in the Group Stage, also reached rec

Dec. 10, 2020

Abusive curling coaches, officials banned for life

South Korean curling officials and coaches who abused the national women's team members for years have been slapped with lifetime bans. The Korean Curling Federation (KCF) announced Monday that its former Vice President Kim Kyung-doo, his daughter Kim Min-jung and her husband Jang Ban-seok will no longer be allowed to set foot in the sport. The Kims were once considered the royal family in South Korean curling. Kim Kyung-doo was a founding member of the KCF in 1994. Kim Min-jung was the head

Nov. 30, 2020

LCK player salaries remain secret, but rumors continue

As the stove league continues in the League of Legends Champions Korea offseason, roster changes and transfers are being announced in preparation for the franchise system that will start in spring. However, player salaries and transfer fees, on which everyone keeps an eye every year during the stove league, are once again kept hidden, revealed only through rumors, without any official statements. Despite the secrecy surrounding the exact price, the figures being tossed about this year are at

Nov. 29, 2020

Following suspension, Olympic skating champion wants to enjoy competition again

Two-time Olympic speed skating gold medalist Lee Seung-hoon returned to the ice on Wednesday, hoping to enjoy being on the ice again after serving his one-year suspension over allegations of physically assaulting teammates. Lee skated in the men's 5,000m race at the Korea Skating Union (KSU) President's Cup National Speed Skating Championship at Taeneung International Rink in Seoul. It was his first race since the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. He finished fourth at 6:53.28, well off his com

Nov. 25, 2020

Bwipo, T1 apologizes to Effort

Online game League of Legends esports team T1 posted an official apology to its player Lee “Effort” Sang-ho, and European team Fnatic player Gabriel “Bwipo” Rau apologized to both T1 and Effort on Thursday following a series of online controversies surrounding a leak about a potential transfer in the stove league during Effort’s stream. The controversy started when a private chat between T1 members was shown in Effort’s stream on Nov. 3. The chat implied tha

Nov. 20, 2020

Seoul to host forum supporting sports growth in developing nations

An annual forum designed to support the growth of sports in developing countries will be held in Seoul this week, a related state-funded agency said Wednesday. The sports ministry will host the "Dream Together Seoul Forum" at SKY31 Conference Hall at Lotte World Tower in Seoul, starting at 2 p.m. Friday. The Korea Sports Promotion Foundation (KSPO) organized the event, which will be held under the theme "Sports for a Better World." KSPO said Thursday the forum will help pro

Nov. 19, 2020

Faker among 5 LCK players chosen for 2020 LoL All-Star

After a week of online voting, the most popular player in each of the five roles in League of Legends was selected to play in the 2020 LoL All-Star Event on Dec. 18 to 20. Unlike the previous years in which current and retired pros and influencers from all over the world gathered in one city, this year’s event will be held online. All the chosen players from Korean LoL esports league, LoL Champions Korea, will be playing at LoL Park in Jongno, Seoul. The LoL All-Star is an annual event

Nov. 18, 2020

Esports arena opens in Busan, first outside greater Seoul

Busan Esports Arena will officially open Wednesday, Busan Metropolitan City and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency announced Tuesday. The esports arena to open in Busan on the 15th and 16th floors of Samjung Tower is the first arena dedicated to esports to open outside the capital area. This is the first of the three esports arenas supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to open following the government decision to promote esports outside of Seoul in 2018. The other two arenas

Nov. 17, 2020

[Herald Interview] Rookie LCK announcers reflect on their first season

  In the European League of Legends scene, there is an iconic esports host named Sjokz who has conducted LoL European Championships player interviews for several years. In the LoL Pro League in China, her equivalent is Candice. In the LCK, however, no esports announcer has managed to stay with the league for multiple years, as many move on after gaining popularity or quit for various reasons. While LCK fans supported the announcers as they moved on to bigger things, it always left a bitter

Nov. 3, 2020

Riot Games finalizes 10 teams for LCK franchise

Riot Games finalized the 10 teams for the League of Legends Champions Korea franchise on Monday after announcing implementation of the franchise system for 2021 back in April. The 10 teams are hyFresh Blade (Brion Esports), Sandbox Gaming, Afreeca Freecs, Damwon Gaming (AD Esports), KT Rolster (KT Sports), Team Dynamics, Hanwha Life Esports (Hanwha Life Insurance), DRX, Gen.G Esports and T1 (SK Telecom CS T1). The list remains unchanged from the 10 preferred bidders Riot Games announced in Au

Nov. 2, 2020

Damwon defeats Suning to win LoL Worlds

League of Legends Champions Korea’s Damwon Gaming hoisted the Summoner’s Cup for the first time in three years, beating China’s LoL Pro League’s Suning at the LoL World Championships Finals on Saturday at Pudong Football Stadium in Shanghai. This year’s finals marked the first such event this year with a live audience, upon the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic. The opening ceremony, featuring Riot Game’s virtual reality K-pop group K/DA and performances of

Nov. 1, 2020

Damwon Gaming and Suning to clash at LoL World Championship finals

South Korea’s Damwon Gaming took down Europe’s G2 Esports in a convincing 3-1 win at the League of Legend World Championship semifinals on Saturday. This is the first time a Korean team has made the finals in three years at the biggest esports event of the year. For the past two years, Chinese teams have played against European teams at the finals, including the 2018 finals in Incheon. Damwon looked unstoppable as they finished the last game of the series against G2 in just 19 min

Oct. 26, 2020

Side selection in LoL Worlds semifinals

The first game of the semifinals for the League of Legend World Championships will feature Korean top seed Damwon Gaming against European first seed G2 Esports on Saturday at 7 p.m. The match will decide which of the two regions will be knocked out of the tournament and which will head to the finals. Damwon Gaming went undefeated in the second round robin of the LoL Champions Korea Summer, going 9-0 in match score and losing only one set against Gen.G. They’ve dropped a single game o

Oct. 23, 2020

Damwon Gaming is sole Korean hope at Worlds

After European powerhouse G2 Esports swept Korean team Gen.G Esports 3-0 Sunday night, Damwon Gaming became the only Korean team left in the League of Legends World Championships, heading to the semifinals. For Korean fans, the match between G2 and Gen.G on Sunday brought back nightmares of last year’s World Championships. G2, regarded as League of Legends Champions Korea’s kryptonite, took down Damwon Gaming in the quarterfinals and Korean team T1 with superstar “Faker&rdquo

Oct. 19, 2020